Mbabane — Business Eswatini (BE) CEO Nathi Dlamini stated that the anti-migrant protests in South Africa are expected to have an immediate and long-term impact on the local economy.
On Tuesday, South African citizens held a nationwide anti-immigrant protest spearheaded by the March and March movement, causing disruptions in economic activities that were also felt outside of South Africa, including Eswatini.
South Africa continues to be Eswatini’s top trading partner, accounting for more than 70% of imports and exports in May of this year, the Central Bank’s most recent economic growth report indicates. 
Dlamini, discussing the impact of these protests on Eswatini’s private sector, stated that numerous enterprises do trade and commercial activity with South Africa.
Business Eswatini continues to account for around 82% of the country’s private sector gross domestic output.
Dlamini said the immediate impacts on local businesses that rely on cross-border trade were felt, referring to the protests as unfortunate.
“No one could have predicted that the situation that’s quickly unravelling and unfolding in South Africa would go in the manner that it has,” he said in a televised interview.
It left psychological impacts borne out of fear. Tuesday played out as one of the scariest moments with thousands of South African citizens petitioning its government and issuing an ultimatum about undocumented foreigners.
They continue to demand that they leave the nation, pledging to protest once a week until the government complies.
“Let me talk about the psychological impact of it. It creates fear even for people who are in South Africa, and I will tell you this: on Monday evening when I was driving back from South Africa to Swaziland, you should have seen the queues of people from South Africa, most of whom were Emaswati but others. I think there were other nationalities who were coming into this country,” he said.
Dlamini said sheer panic was caused as people attempted to flee.
“And every time you panic, that’s not good for business. And here we are two countries that have a very good and viable relationship with South Africa.
“In fact, South Africa is our biggest trading partner, and if something of this nature happens, it will impact us,” he said.
He also said the impact will be felt by Emaswati working in South Africa even for those with papers, as South Africans seem to have adopted an attitude towards immigrants.
“They just don’t care. As I speak, one logistics company here in Matsapa that runs tracking has received 1,972 applications in the past four days. 400 applications were submitted electronically for people looking for positions as truck drivers, mostly in South Africa,” he said, pointing to the direct impact this is likely to have on Emaswati’s employment situation.
Dlamini said people in the transportation industry will lose their jobs and come back from South Africa out of fear.
“So, let me just say it is unfortunate that it’s happening this way. And it undermines the very, very pillars of SADC.
“To be honest with you, when you talk about regional integration, already you talk about labour integration among SADC countries. And then you have something of this nature where you say, “No, you will be profiled down the street. And if you seem like you look strange, we will do something to you, and we will chase you out of town the way they’re doing it,” Dlamini said.
The BE CEO leaned on the hope that such a fright will soon converge SADC leaders. He also said they ought to ‘really speak out and condemn this attitude’.
“There is another way we can handle it. Not in this format, definitely not. Only the logistics sector is definitely going to bear the brunt of this movement or the protest,” he said.
